The Writing Week (Vol. 4) part 189 - Going Back to Basics

I truly believe it's never to late to give up learning about screenwriting. There are so many books and articles and blogs (ahem) and resources out there about the craft that one could literally devote entire years just to reading about the trade. Maybe decades. I know people feel very differently about the importance and value of reading screenwriting books, but I believe there's a very large difference between how-to books and informative reading. There is also a large argument to be made for, "you can always learn more."


Right now, I'm reading William Goldman's Adventures in the Screen Trade. Somehow, I'd managed to make it this far with having read the sequel, but never this first piece. And if you haven't read it (which I recommend you do), it's not so much a "this is how you write a screenplay" as it is a narrative about what it means to be a screenwriter, both personally and professionally. It's incredibly fascinating, a little gossipy, and a great insider look at Hollywood (albeit the Hollywood of the early 1980s, but still).


To the right of this post, you'll see a whole slew of links to sites, blogs, resources, etc. etc. Check them out. Even though they might state what you already know in the most simplistic ways, sometimes those reminders can be refreshing and useful. If you're stuck on your script, maybe reading something about the craft will get your mind jogging again, or it could be that inspiration you need to get over your block. Whatever the reason is that draws you to these texts - even if it's just to remain as up to date (my case now is not the prime example of this) or conversant in the canonical texts and ideas - it never hurts to go back to the basics. Until you're the one writing said books, as you're struggling to launch that career, it can always be a small boost to read the work of those who have come before. 

The Writing Week (Vol. 4) part 188 - Crisis of Confidence

Screenwriters must be tough. I don't mean physically (though being able to land a solid right hook isn't a terrible thing). No, screenwriters need an incredibly thick skin and ability to take a lot of criticism on their work and a lot of rejection in their attempts to get it sold and made. And it can be very difficult to resist all the pessimism and negativism.


I'll be honest, as much as I know how vital that "I am rubber" attitude is essential to an unblemished pursuit of professional screenwriting, I still fall victim to what I dub the "crisis of confidence." I fell victim to it this week. The League met on Wednesday night to review my second draft of the Medieval spec, and I received a very healthy serving of notes, feedback, and thoughts on it. Some of the notes jive really well; others didn't sit as comfortably with me. I have yet to decide which I'll implement and which I won't, but there's a wealth of information for me to sift through now. And the notes all mean I'll be doing undertaking another major overhaul of the script once again.


That feedback (too) easily fed into doubt when I got an update on my post-Apocalyptic spec from my producer. Though we've sent the script out to a number of companies, we are still waiting to hear back from them - and that is frequently not a good sign. Unfortunately, the realization that the script, which I thought was working (the Medieval one), was in need of a lot more work compounded with the non-update update from my producer, and the result was a damning and damaging crisis of confidence that's detrimental to any writer. Will I ever make this script work? That one that's circulating in the industry, which I thought was my strongest, isn't getting traction - will I ever be able to surpass that? If it doesn't sell, what does that mean for me? Will I continue to pursue this path?


These and other questions - or, rather, the answers to them - can be the deciding factor in any writer's pursuit of his or her career. Ideally, they're not asked. But let's be 100% honest with one another and ourselves. It's damn hard not to ask them. It's human to do so. And writers are students of humanity. The trick, though, which I have reminded myself of, is that one has to look at the silver lining in those moments of doubt. My post-Apocalyptic spec isn't gaining much traction at the moment; however, it landed me an agent at UTA, a lawyer at a respected industry firm, and, most importantly, I have two dedicated producers still doing everything they can to get it sold. For a 26 year old, I'm in a pretty good place in that respect. As for the Medieval spec, I know what's not working, and I have a lot of good suggestions for how to strengthen it. While I might have hoped I was going to get the thumbs up from the group, what I got was also positive - feedback on how to make it even stronger. So that's what I have to do. Write. Make it stronger. And bolster my self confidence. 

The Writing Week (Vol. 4) part 187 - Trust your Writers Group

It took a while, but I finally got the latest draft of my Medieval spec out to the rest of the League. We have a group meeting on Wednesday, and mine is one of two scripts we'll be reviewing and critiquing. I'm really curious to hear what they have to say about it - I was surprised by how much I liked it when I read through it last. Other than the page count (92), nothing glaring is sticking out at me so far. That, of course, can all change on Wednesday as we discuss it.


The meetings really are purely for the benefit of whoever has pages in them. Yes, they help everyone by strengthening their analytical muscles, but what I mean is that even if your work is torn apart and fatal flaws highlighted, the goal is to improve your material. Sometimes receiving feedback can be tough. Sometimes it can even feel like an attack (though this more in instances where a note is given in a less professional manner, or a writer doesn't know how to take the feedback). At the end of the day, though, one has to keep in mind that the objective is to improve the script at hand, and both the feedback and peoples' response to the pages are non-subtle clues as to what is working and what isn't. Also, provided you have a writers group that you trust, you should know that they want to like your script, want it to be better, and if they come at it aggressively or (though they shouldn't do this) poke fun at parts of it, they do so because they want to enjoy it more, and it's just not working for them yet. 


It takes a lot to build up the thick skin necessary to take notes. It also takes time and practice to learn how to give notes in a constructive, non-aggressive manner. The group members and I had 3.5 to 4 years of school together in which we did both the above. In the over 4 years since, we've further developed those skills. And, to be honest, even if we slip up now and then or deliver a note in a slightly derisive manner unintentionally, we've known one another long enough to appreciate the fact that there's no malice behind it. Like I mentioned, trust is the key factor - trust them to give you solid feedback (even if you don't take it), and trust them to have the best intentions for you script in mind.  Otherwise, why even send them the pages?

The Writing Week (Vol. 4) part 186 - Reading Through a Draft You Just Finished

At long last, I finally finished the second draft of my Medieval spec yesterday. It was a hellacious, laborious process, especially the "midpoint." (I put that in quotation marks, because what I had considered the midpoint actually falls around page 64 of 89 - far, far too late for that tentpole scene.) All in all, I was pleasantly surprised by the read. In my experience, that generally means the script is rife with problems. 


Normally, when I do a read through of a script, I get right to the nitty-gritty, looking for grammatical and typological errors, lines that can be cut, and places where extra dialogue or beats are necessary. Today, though, I decided to try something new, something that I probably should have been doing from the get-go. Rather than pay attention to the small details, I read the script in one sitting looking purely at the story. Does it flow? Are there gaps? Are there character arcs and transformations?


On the whole, I found a lot of my concerns pre-reading to be unfounded. Though short, the script flowed pretty well. I didn't get a sense that there was a lot missing, especially from the first act. The characters had genuinely distinct voices and underwent shifts throughout the story; they had backstory and felt like real people. There were sufficient amounts of action and more even-tempered beats in between.


The main concern is still the page count. Though that strikes even me as a semi-absurd source of anxiety, I've actually experienced it in my minimal writing career to date. At one point, I submitted a solid draft of my post-Apocalyptic spec to my producer. Though we both liked it a lot, it came in at just about 90 pages - maybe a bit less. The very first thing she said, without even having read it, was that the page count might be too small. It would depend on the notes and the read, but I might have to beef it up by five or so.


The industry is very specific about what it wants, especially from new writers. Not conforming to act structure and not submitting an industry standard page-length script are both warning signs of an inexperienced writer. Yes, great scripts can miss both expectations by a mile. However, when you're breaking in, those are some of the top points on the checklist; not being able to mark them can be the difference between getting your material read and not. 


Right now, the Medieval spec is 89 pages. I know I want at least 5 more. Act One is 30 pages on the dot. That means that 66% of the script is Acts Two and Three. As I was reading, I came to realize that there's another "midpoint" beat on page 54 - sometimes, I have to convince myself of the technicalities in order to be more at ease with what I have. Act Two ends on page 80, so it's 50 pages. That's quite fine. It's the 9 page third act that really worries me. I often do a 15 page resolution, but 9 seems too short. I've identified a couple places where I can fit in another beat, but it will be hard to write them so they don't feel tacked on. I have an idea for the first beat, but the longer page-generating sequence eludes me, which is a good indicator that it doesn't belong in the script.


What are your two cents on the matter? If you had a script that your gut told you was both a little too short but also contained pretty much everything it needs, what would you do?

The Writing Week (Vol. 4) part 185 - Dabbling in Projects

I've been out of the City for two weeks, traveling around the West Coast; San Francisco, Seattle, and Portland. I absolutely fell in love with the Northwest. The past week marked my first journey out that way, and I miss it incredibly. Returning to New York was like landing down in a cement garbage dump compared to the lush, green beauty I had spent eight days in. Rain aside - and we had some, but not much - it was gorgeous out there. The trip really made me question why I'm staying in NYC and, more than that, lit a fire under me to get out.

Residence change plans aside, the trip hadn't been the most productive for writing. I was in San Fran for a week before Seattle, and managed to get a good chunk of script work done. But then I hit a wall. I haven't been able to move past the midpoint scene that was giving me issues yet, and - to be completely honest - I haven't really tried in the past week, either. 

On the other hand, Jon (Onyx) and I have been tossing around some ideas for a collaboration we might start working on, and that's been fun. the change of pace is nice, and after my struggles with the Medieval spec, developing a new project is a breath of fresh air. We're trying to keep all ideas in a single email chain for the time being, just to make sure we're always on the same page. 

I ended last week with a few updates on my post-Apocalyptic spec, too. Nothing major - just considering going to buyers directly, having not had a ton of luck with production companies. I guess this is a tough time of the year for spec sales; then again, when isn't? All part of the game, I suppose.

The Writing Week (Vol. 4) part 184 - Damn Midpoint

Act Two (in a standard format script) is notoriously the hardest. Spanning pages 30-90 (again, in a textbook script), it is not only the longest portion of the screenplay, but also the one that is the hardest to sustain. That is why, here at the league, the Dreaded Act Two is one of our most hated of arch enemies.


Act Two is split into to sections, right down the middle at the midpoint of the script (page 60). That's typically either a crisis point, or a majorly uplifting moment for your protagonist. It is also the point that must compel the next 30 pages into the climax of the entire story. Your character has been working toward a goal for the first half of the script; at this juncture, she either has to redirect, find a new path completely, or finds the inspiration needed to carry her onto the next stage of her journey. What follows - pages 60-70 or 75, can be misery for a writer, as you and your story and protagonist are coming down off of a major adrenaline high yet need to sustain the audience's attention.


Right now, I'm still grappling with the midpoint. I've actually gone through and written the remaining pages of this draft through the final Fade Out, but left the midpoint unaltered. I know it needs work, and I know where the rest of the story goes, but I'm not sure how to achieve what I need in that core section. (And, it's a long section, currently clocking in at about 10 of the now 87 pages I have.) To be honest, this is probably my fault as a writer for not fully fleshing out the needs and arc of my protagonist. I kind of know where he needs to get to and where he's coming from, but the bridge between the two is muddled, since it can go a few directions. I should have been better prepared, but maybe that's what the third draft will bring.


Another interesting development - the script is a love story, and the titular female character, though not the protagonist, is emerging as the one with the greater arc over the course of the story. I don't actually think this is a problem. And don't get me wrong, the male protagonist does undergo a change. But her's is much more visible and multi-tiered at the moment. Again, this could be a product of work that is lacking on my part, but it's an interesting transformation to watch. Maybe in a way, she actually is the protagonist, despite the fact that she's not on screen as much as he is. Either way, I'll solicit feedback before I alter that at all. 


I kind of like the way it's going. Have you ever worked with multiple strong characters, one of which eclipses your protagonist in terms of experience? Can you think of strong examples of movies that do this well?

The Writing Week (Vol. 4) part 183 - What is Your Writing Process?

Some writers are incredibly picky when it comes to their process. They have to be in a certain seat at a certain desk, facing a specific direction at a specific time of day. They can only use their typewriter (or computer, or notepad) and can only write in two hour uninterrupted intervals. Music must be playing continuously, and the phone must be off. Others are complete free-for-alls in their approach - they will write when the mood strikes, wherever that may be, and will use whatever writing tool is handy.


For the most part, I land somewhere in between. I put in an hour a day (at least). Anything less, and I feel like it's been a waste or a sham - unless, perhaps, I was overly productive for 40 or 50 minutes. I generally write to music (soundtracks) and have a few go-to staples, along with a mix of some of my all-ime favorite soundtrack bytes. I write from home for the most part, though if I'm going out late after work but don't have time to return to Queens first, I'll bring my laptop to the office and get work done there after business hours. The time of day doesn't matter too much; I'm not really a morning person, so it tends to be in the evening. 


This week, though (when I got writing done), I worked wherever I could. I'm revising my Medieval spec still - just about wrapping up Act Two; however, I left a major sequence at the midpoint blank because I'm still not sure how I want it to unfold. Sometimes, when I'm doing a page-one rewrite, I'll literally start with a blank document. This time, I saved the script as a new document and and gradually working my way from page one back to the end, cutting, adding, and changing as I go along. Even if some of the scenes and characters get cut, I like bits of the description and lines involving them, so those parts are staying. It's also easier - I find - to move forward, even changing directions in the script, if I can continuously work off of what was there to begin with. Perhaps a strange approach, but I'm finding it effective, especially because I am not changing the pacing too much. 


At any rate, writing time was making itself pretty scarce, so I had to be flexible. I wrote on a bus down to DC for the 4th, which was a first. Then, yesterday, I spent two hours writing while on a plane en route to San Francisco (another first). It's amazing how much a set of headphones and the right volume levels can help one zone into the work and zone out everything else. And with little other time to write, those few travel hours were integral to furthering the script.


What's your approach - do you have any nonnegotiable essentials to your writing process?